‘It sometimes vexes police lawyers – how the police can be a prosecutor for the purpose of malicious prosecution when it is the Crown Prosecution Service that makes the decision to prosecute. Further, it has not always been easy to identify what acts of officers can result in liability for misfeasance in a public office. In Rees v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2017] EWHC 273 (QB), Mitting J explained both of these – disagreeing with some previous cases and explaining others.’

‘Three men charged with the 1987 murder of the private detective Daniel Morgan have lost their case that police maliciously tried to get them convicted. A fourth man has won part of his claim for damages.’

‘The alleged conspirators in the unsolved murder of Daniel Morgan have been named in court, nearly 30 years after the private detective was found dead with an axe embedded in his head in a pub car park.’

‘The High Court has given the green light to a solicitor to pursue claims against the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and South Wales Police (SWP) for malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office.’

‘The police must confront the “poison of decades-old misdeeds”, the Home Secretary Theresa May has told officers, raising hopes that she is close to ordering an inquiry into police misconduct during the 1980s miners’ strike.’

‘The recent case of Laporte v The Commissioner for the Police of the Metropolis [2015] EWHC 371 (QB), which came before Turner J (pictured), reinforced the pro-ADR stance of courts and the obligation on parties to seriously consider and engage with ADR processes. Although the case also dealt with indemnity costs, this article specifically focuses upon ADR.’

‘In a recent judgment, the Court of Appeal held that where a criminal suspect is remanded in custody, Article 5 of the Convention requires the police to notify the court as soon as possible if there is no longer a reasonable basis for suspecting them. It also held that the police and CPS must aid the court in observing its duty to show ‘special diligence’ in managing a suspect’s detention, by investigating the case conscientiously and by promptly bringing relevant material to the court’s attention.’

“Oddity of personality did not of itself diminish the value of one’s good character and, therefore, a judge had erred in reducing a plaintiff’s damages for malicious prosecution on the basis that his reputation and social standing did not amount to much because he had chosen to withdraw from society and live as a recluse.”

“An Asian former police officer who was racially abused by colleagues at Cleveland police then set up and jailed for a crime he did not commit has accepted compensation from the force of more than £800,000.”

“In order to found a cause of action in tort for malicious prosecution against a complainant, it had to be shown that the complainant had deliberately manipulated the police and the CPS into taking a course which they would not otherwise have taken.”